$50K transforms Dubuque bar into upscale venue

By JIM SWENSON Telegraph Herald

Sunday

May 31, 2015 at 12:01 AM

DUBUQUE - At least Ted Stackis and his renovation crew saved a place for a hamburger-making machine.

After all, that's what originally inspired the estimated $50,000 improvements they recently put into Northside Bar. What used to be a dark place with low ceilings and cramped restrooms is now a venue that would fit in with the historic Millwork District.

Boasting exposed brick walls, arched doorways, a new $10,000 bar and unique and quirky items scattered throughout, the new space has amazed its regulars, according to Ted and his wife, Darla, who have owned the bar for about six years.

"I think it flows in nicely with the Copper Kettle," said Darla, referring to the renovated bar and restaurant just two blocks north. "I know he put a lot of work into that."

The work on Northside Bar was supposed to be small but grew considerably more complicated.

"I said, ‘Let's get rid of that drop ceiling in the back of the bar,'" Ted recalled. "On Monday mornings, I answer my phone a lot, and I'm watching my morning shows and drinking my coffee - thinking he's going to get that drop ceiling down."

By 10 a.m. on that Monday in early April, his 24-year-old son, Jordan, had completed that little job. He then started ripping down wall paneling to expose the brick behind it.

The unstoppable wrecking ball had commenced.

"When I walked in, it was like a cloud of dust. I couldn't see anything," said Scott Schemmel, a close friend who helped.

Deafening drill hammers, messy power washers, wires hanging from everywhere and men walking around with boards created organized chaos.

"Fourteen hours a day plus two hours of drinking beer to figure out what to do tomorrow," is how Ted described it.

"That was our brainstorming time," Schemmel said with a laugh. "We'd change our mind in a split-second and, ‘Oh, hey, maybe that would even be cooler.' "

About 20 percent of the finished tavern is made up of salvage from the nearby Bee Branch project. Ted, who grew up in the neighborhood, was a contractor on some salvage projects.

The other 80 percent of the materials came from everywhere.

There are light fixtures out of the old Choo Choo Charlie's restaurant. Marble on the bar was donated by Birch Heating andamp; Cooling. The vanity in the women's restroom is from a building at Sunnycrest Manor. Old wagon wheels are off a John Deere seeder. And there are stained-glass light fixtures from a closed Shakey's Pizza.

"That clamp over there, I took that off a pipe in a basement," Jordan said.

Schemmel added, "If we got a piece of wood with a knothole in it, we'd cut the good pieces out and throw them away and use the ones with the knotholes."

As the renovation picked up, something had to be done about the curious customers who wandered in.

"I said, ‘I can't run a bar like this. I'm going to close down for a couple days,'" Darla said. "Then, it ended up being five weeks."

Some regular customers still hung out in back deck area, drinking beer and watching the progress, which included some creative touches.

Restroom doors were beaten with chains and singed with torches. Bases from old tables became renovated tabletops. And if you look closely at the far-north corner of the bar, hanging from the ceiling is a special aluminum catfish, created by Tim Neuhaus, who also did the copper on the bar and ceilings.

With a customer base ranging from 20-something to 80-something, the Northside Bar owners pride themselves on running a friendly, local establishment. They believe their renovation fits in with a general neighborhood improvement.

"The guy across the street who bought the greenhouse is putting a lot of money into that," Jordan said of Convivium Urban Farmstead.

It's a relief for all involved the heavy lifting is done. Eventually, though, Northside might even offer hamburgers.

"You know, if you think about it, all this (renovation) is based on an insta-burger machine," Ted said. "(Previous bar) Goetz's used to sell burgers, but I got rid of that when we opened up. But I've been saying for three years, ‘I'm getting hamburgers back in the bar.'

"So I did some research and had this burger machine all planned out. It's $2,500, and I thought, ‘We'll start first with that back ceiling.' You can see, that's where it's going to go some day," Ted said, pointing to an open spot against the wall.

"Just not today," Jordan said.

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